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Ty Cobb: The Life and Legacy of the Player Who Set the Most Major League Baseball Records
*Includes pictures *Includes excerpts of contemporary accounts *Includes a bibliography for further reading *Includes a table of contents "I had to fight all my life to survive. They were all against me, but I beat the bastards and left them in the ditch." – Ty Cobb "Cobb is a prick. But he sure can hit. God Almighty, that man can hit." – Babe Ruth As one of America’s oldest and most beloved sports, baseball has long been touted as the national pastime, but of all the millions of people who have played it over the last few centuries, few have influenced Major League Baseball like Ty Cobb, whose career spanned over 20 seasons. The Georgia Peach overcame early hardships to set nearly 100 MLB records in his time as a player and player-manager for the Detroit Tigers and Philadelphia Athletics. With an MVP and Triple Crown under his belt by the age of 25, Cobb went on to produce statistics that still lead MLB in several categories, including 4,065 combined runs scored and RBIs, a career batting average over .365, and at least 11 batting titles. In cases where he’s no longer the record holder, it would take decades for players like Pete Rose to play in more games and collect more at bats and hits, for Rickey Henderson to score as many runs, and for Lou Brock to steal more bases. Even Americans who are relatively unfamiliar with baseball’s storied history have likely heard of Ty Cobb and can recognize him as one of the sport’s all time greats, but today his legacy is better known for controversy. In his day, Cobb was cast as a villain by fans of teams he played against, but he was portrayed in flattering manners shortly after his death. Things changed when other contemporary accounts came out and cast him as a vile racist, among other personal failings, much of which can be credited to the writing of sportswriter Al Stump and the modern biopic Cobb, released in 1994. It has only been recently that modern historians have pushed back a bit on those portrayals of Cobb and attempted to depict him in a more balanced light, and even then some of them have struggled. For example, in The Journal of American Culture, writer Hunter M. Hampton noted that biographer Charles Leerhsen’s Ty A Terrible Beauty, released in 2015, "succeeds in debunking the myth of Cobb that Stump created, but…spawned a new myth by conflating Stump's shortcomings to depict Cobb as an egalitarian" Ty The Life and Legacy of the Player Who Set the Most Major League Baseball Records profiles the controversial legend, both on the field and off it. Along with pictures of important people, places, and events, you will learn about Ty Cobb like never before.
- GenresSports
63 pages, Kindle Edition
Published December 14, 2019
39 people are currently reading
23 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
March 6, 2020
Many people, even some who aren't ardent baseball fans, have heard of Ty Cobb whether through articles, books, or perhaps the Ken Burns series "Baseball"or the movie "Cobb." As a baseball fan myself, I have seen the series a few times and read about Cobb in a few books. This book alludes to some more recent disputing research that I would say, paints him in a somewhat different light. Although not a real long book, it covers many of the highlights of his life from his youth until his death in 1959. However, it doesn't delve too deeply into them; for that, you would have to find another source.
In beginning with his youth, the story starts with some history of the Cobb family as one of more prominent ancestry, which I either didn't know or had forgotten, most likely the latter. His father's aspirations for him to become well educated, Ty never displaying the aptitude for that and his persona as high strung and stubborn is noted early in his life. After some time, his success on the local baseball field became known and his father became a source of encouragement in that endeavor.
While Ty was on an amateur team, the book tells of the tragedy of his father's death and the ordeal of his mother being under the suspicion of murder. After that the brunt of the story is consumed with the highlights of his 24 seasons in the major leagues, which baseball fans would much appreciate, although others may not find it is interesting. He set many records and the most impressive ones are covered. Whatever one may think of him otherwise, his hitting records are amazing and he was a smart baseball player who relied on his wits as well as his talent.
A few incidents of his violence on and off of the field are also mentioned, but he is not depicted as negatively as in the Ken Burns film or the "Cobb" movie. His reputation as an avowed racist is also disputed due to the uncovering of later research and the forgery of some documents by Al Stump, the writer of a couple of books that the movie was based upon. In one of the incidents of violence purported to be against two African-American men, later examination revealed that both men were actually white. According to the book, Cobb was in fact a supporter of allowing African-Americans to play in the major leagues.
After his playing days, his failed marriages are covered as well as his estranged relationship with his oldest son, Tyrus Jr., but another side of him is also brought forth. Due to his relationship with Coca-Cola and his wisdom in buying their stock early on, as well as some successful business ventures, Cobb retired a wealthy man. His charity with his money is noted, including the foundations that he established for college scholarships and assistance to underprivileged youth in Georgia, both of which continue to this day.
Of course there are more highlights covered than just these regarding this controversial figure and I found the book quite interesting to read. There are some incidents of the wrong word being used in a sentence, as seems to be the case when these books are put out in the Kindle version, but nowhere near the worst that I've seen. I would recommend the book to people who have even a passing interest in baseball history.
In beginning with his youth, the story starts with some history of the Cobb family as one of more prominent ancestry, which I either didn't know or had forgotten, most likely the latter. His father's aspirations for him to become well educated, Ty never displaying the aptitude for that and his persona as high strung and stubborn is noted early in his life. After some time, his success on the local baseball field became known and his father became a source of encouragement in that endeavor.
While Ty was on an amateur team, the book tells of the tragedy of his father's death and the ordeal of his mother being under the suspicion of murder. After that the brunt of the story is consumed with the highlights of his 24 seasons in the major leagues, which baseball fans would much appreciate, although others may not find it is interesting. He set many records and the most impressive ones are covered. Whatever one may think of him otherwise, his hitting records are amazing and he was a smart baseball player who relied on his wits as well as his talent.
A few incidents of his violence on and off of the field are also mentioned, but he is not depicted as negatively as in the Ken Burns film or the "Cobb" movie. His reputation as an avowed racist is also disputed due to the uncovering of later research and the forgery of some documents by Al Stump, the writer of a couple of books that the movie was based upon. In one of the incidents of violence purported to be against two African-American men, later examination revealed that both men were actually white. According to the book, Cobb was in fact a supporter of allowing African-Americans to play in the major leagues.
After his playing days, his failed marriages are covered as well as his estranged relationship with his oldest son, Tyrus Jr., but another side of him is also brought forth. Due to his relationship with Coca-Cola and his wisdom in buying their stock early on, as well as some successful business ventures, Cobb retired a wealthy man. His charity with his money is noted, including the foundations that he established for college scholarships and assistance to underprivileged youth in Georgia, both of which continue to this day.
Of course there are more highlights covered than just these regarding this controversial figure and I found the book quite interesting to read. There are some incidents of the wrong word being used in a sentence, as seems to be the case when these books are put out in the Kindle version, but nowhere near the worst that I've seen. I would recommend the book to people who have even a passing interest in baseball history.
July 26, 2020
Short and sweet statistical read of baseball legend, Ty Cobb.
Born December 18, 1886, Tyrus Raymond Cobb, nicknamed The Georgia Peach, was the firstborn child of William and Amanda (Chitwood) Cobb in rural Georgia.
Falling in love with baseball as a child, Cobb was determined to play the sport professionally, his father was vehemently opposed to the idea and warned his son "Don't come home a failure!" These words would remain with Cobb his entire life as he strived harder and harder to be the best baseball player he could be.
Cobb's relationship with his father was strained and he would find himself in a similar relationship with his own firstborn son, Ty, Jr., who was a physician, dying young, never having salvaged his relationship with his father, the baseball legend.
To some, Cobb was ornery and mean, but known to be a gentleman as well. His was a tough life, yet one that brought him fame and fortune. He was married twice, fathered five children, and credited with setting 90 MLB records during his career, many of which have yet to be broken.
Some said he was a racist, yet he spoke favorably about black players joining the Major Leagues and was a well-known philanthropist. Cobb played hard and lived hard all his life, feeling he had made mistakes, he would do things differently if he could.
Suffering from Pancreatic Cancer and slipping into a Diabetic Coma, Ty Cobb died at Emory University Hospital with his first wife and surviving children standing by his side, on July 17, 1961. He was 74 years of age.
Born December 18, 1886, Tyrus Raymond Cobb, nicknamed The Georgia Peach, was the firstborn child of William and Amanda (Chitwood) Cobb in rural Georgia.
Falling in love with baseball as a child, Cobb was determined to play the sport professionally, his father was vehemently opposed to the idea and warned his son "Don't come home a failure!" These words would remain with Cobb his entire life as he strived harder and harder to be the best baseball player he could be.
Cobb's relationship with his father was strained and he would find himself in a similar relationship with his own firstborn son, Ty, Jr., who was a physician, dying young, never having salvaged his relationship with his father, the baseball legend.
To some, Cobb was ornery and mean, but known to be a gentleman as well. His was a tough life, yet one that brought him fame and fortune. He was married twice, fathered five children, and credited with setting 90 MLB records during his career, many of which have yet to be broken.
Some said he was a racist, yet he spoke favorably about black players joining the Major Leagues and was a well-known philanthropist. Cobb played hard and lived hard all his life, feeling he had made mistakes, he would do things differently if he could.
Suffering from Pancreatic Cancer and slipping into a Diabetic Coma, Ty Cobb died at Emory University Hospital with his first wife and surviving children standing by his side, on July 17, 1961. He was 74 years of age.
December 28, 2023
This book kind of randomly showed up on my library’s audiobook list and since it was short, I decided to check it out. I learned a good bit about Ty Cobb and while the author seemed like he wanted to somewhat exonerate Cobb of his racist legacy, he still seemed to be really racist. The only thing he did in opposition to that was his full support of Jackie Robinson.
I didn’t realize that Cobb County (like the one surrounding Atlanta) was named for Cobb’s family. Ty Cobb was believed to be the first 5-digit salary earner in baseball. He was the youngest player to hit 3,000 hits and purposely didn’t hit home runs until Babe Ruth started becoming a big name, then he started hitting home runs.
Audiobook narrator Bill Hare rating: 3 stars
The narrator didn’t make much of a difference in this short book.
I didn’t realize that Cobb County (like the one surrounding Atlanta) was named for Cobb’s family. Ty Cobb was believed to be the first 5-digit salary earner in baseball. He was the youngest player to hit 3,000 hits and purposely didn’t hit home runs until Babe Ruth started becoming a big name, then he started hitting home runs.
Audiobook narrator Bill Hare rating: 3 stars
The narrator didn’t make much of a difference in this short book.
June 19, 2023
Quick read
I gave it 2 stars cause I thought it was going to about Ty's career & how he really was. But Instead it was a really quick read just going year by year on his career.
I gave it 2 stars cause I thought it was going to about Ty's career & how he really was. But Instead it was a really quick read just going year by year on his career.
April 20, 2025
Short & sweet little read. Pretty fun read though.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews